Friday, May 25, 2012

Linux Mint 12 crashed. Linux Mint 13 had some problems, but I added a boot option via directions on the Linux Mint homepage. Cinnamon has a good conservative approach. I get the 3.2 linux kernel. This kernel release fixed some stalling in Linux Mint 11. My favorite Gnome hardware detection utility is back. Cinnamon is a front end for Gnome 3.x which further improves the Gnome 3 interface. It needs hardware acceleration so old PCs run Linux Mint 13 MATE, a project that continues where Gnome 2.32.2 ended. This system may be better than openSUSE 12.1 (with KDE, Gnome, LXDE and XFCE shells) , because it comes with codecs built in and is based on Debian/Ubuntu and not RPM. Deb packages don't have as many dependency issues as RPM package manager. Mark Zuckerberg used Debian when he developed Facebook. We're living in a FreeBSD world now where Red Hat Enterprise Linux is inferior.

I like Libreoffice 3.5.2 already installed. I can now read Visio files. My fast quad-core laptop doesn't like its kernel upgraded and creates a black screen when I attempt this. My other Linux Mint 11 laptop takes 3.3.7 kernel upgrades.

Linux Mint may not be as secure as PC-BSD, but it works. The GRUB boot loader recognizes my PC-BSD 9.0 partition and boots fine.

COWS is a national policy center and field laboratory for high-road economic development — a competitive market economy of shared prosperity, environmental sustainability, and capable democratic government.

COWS' work is collaborative, experimental, and evidence-driven. Working with business, government, labor, and communities, we try out new ideas, test their effectiveness, and disseminate those with promise. We believe that the best way to predict the future is to start making it, particularly in our states and metro regions.

Some areas of COWS' program focus are:

Economic and workforce development Sectoral strategies and career pathways Clean energy and energy efficiency Labor markets and job improvement Strategies for improving low-wage work

COWS is based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, famous for the “Wisconsin Idea” that the University should help informed democratic experiment. Since its founding 18 years ago, COWS has often been called “the Wisconsin Idea in action.”

COWS is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, educational and charitable organization. Its budget comes from foundation and individual gifts and grants and technical assistance contracts.[1]COWS staff

Possible new members after 2010 elections

According to David Dayden writing on leftist blog FireDogLake.
"What about the ones who won? Democrats picked up three seats from
Republicans, making good on some prior anomalies and realigning
correctly. Colleen Hanabusa (HI-01), Cedric Richmond (LA-02) and John Carney (DE-AL) all won. Of those, I would say Hanabusa and Richmond will join the Progressive Caucus. In AL-07, Terri Sewell replaced Artur Davis. She’s a lot more progressive than he ever was, and she will likely join the caucus. David Cicilline (RI-01), the replacement for Patrick Kennedy
and another openly gay member of Congress, is likely to join (Patrick
Kennedy never did). The race that a progressive lost in a primary, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (MI-13), was over ethical issues, and she’ll be replaced by Hansen Clarke, likely to join the caucus.[8]

New California member

On entering Congress in 2011, Janice Hahn of Los Angeles joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus.[9]

Democratic Socialists of America

Congressman Bernie Sanders has been charging that these
bail-outs to regimes which violate worker and civil rights are illegal
under a law passed last year by Sanders and Representative Barney Frank,
both leaders of the Progressive Caucus in Congress which DSA has helped
to organize.

DSA is an activist organization, not a political party. From
promoting single-payer health care, to combating Congress' war on the
poor, to proposing democratic alternatives to the power of the
transnational corporations, DSA is in the center of struggles to advance
a progressive America. This struggle is carried on not only by
prominent leaders, but more importantly, through the work of thousands
of DSA members across the country.

Since 1982, DSA has been working for progressive change. As a
national organization, DSA joins with its allies in Congress'
Progressive Caucus and in many other progressive organizations, fighting
for the interests of the average citizen both in legislative struggles
and in other campaigns to educate the public on progressive issues and
to secure progressive access to the media.

D.S.A. is not a political party, but rather works within the
left wing of the Democratic Party and other third parties. D.S.A. is a
driving force for the Progressive Caucus in the U.S. House of
Representatives (led by Rep. Bernie Sanders, Socialist Congressman of Vermont).

DSA link to other parties

According to Christine Riddiough
"DSA supports a 'Better Way',global dialogue that links
parliamentarians of the Left, community activists and Non-Governmental
Organizations working against the untrammeled rights of
corporations to divide and rule. DSA tries to link the U.S.
Congressional Progressive Caucus to parliamentarians of the Left in
other countries."[16]

Institute for Policy Studies/Progressive Challenge

Congressional Progressive Caucus is heavily influenced by the radical Washington D.C. "think tank," the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
From the IPS website history page:[17]

Much of IPS's policy work is aimed at the national level, and
IPS has always worked closely with, and provided analysis and model
pieces of legislation to, progressive members of Congress.

Currently, IPS advises the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which, with more than 70 members, is the largest non-party Caucus.

On the evening of Monday, April 21, the Progressive Challenge
came to Chicago. Starting off with a town hall style meeting that
brought together about 150 people in the UNITE hall at 333 S. Ashland in
Chicago, the meeting was structured to present testimony from
representative of various local organizations to local Congressional
members of the Progressive Caucus.

DSA was particularly well represented by the testimony of the
Youth Section's International Secretary, Daraka Larimore-Hall. Daraka
Larimore-Hall gave an impassioned, coherent presentation that linked the
various aspects of DSA's agenda with the project at hand.

The Progressive Challenge is an effort to link the
Congressional Progressive Caucus with the larger left grass roots
network of single issue, constituent, labor and ideological
organizations. The Institute for Policy Studies is very much the
keystone organization of this project, which has brought together some
40 organizations including DSA, Americans for Democratic Action, United
Electrical Workers, NETWORK, National Jobs for All Coalition to name a
few. No one of these groups is a major player inside the Beltway, but
together they have captured the attention of the Progressive Caucus and
contributed to its growth.

"The Progressive Challenge: Capitol Hill Forum"

On January 9, 1997, over 600 people attended "The Progressive
Challenge: Capitol Hill Forum" sponsored by the House Progressive
Caucus, Democratic Socialists of America, and a host of other progressive organizations.
The primary goal of this day-long "kick-off" forum was to
"identify the unifying values shared by progressives at this point in US
history, to help define core elements of a forward-looking progressive
agenda, and to pinpoint ways to connect that agenda with the concerns of
millions of disillusioned people who lack voices in present politics
and policy-making."
After a welcome by Representative Bernie Sanders, an impressive array of legislators, activists, and thinkers offered their insights. Senator Paul Wellstone, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Patricia Ireland of NOW, Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO, Noam Chomsky, William Greider of Rolling Stone, and DSA Honorary Chair Barbara Ehrenreich were among the many who spoke.
Some emphasized the importance of the conventional, if difficult,
process of progressive candidates building grassroots campaigns that
treat voters with intelligence and challenge prevailing wisdom regarding
what values and issues motivate ordinary Americans struggling to make
ends meet-as opposed to using polls and focus groups to concoct
"designer" campaigns to appeal to upscale "soccer moms." Other speakers
reminded those present that great changes are made by people acting
outside of the corridors of power to define justice and "political
reality," and the electoral and legislative processes are not the only
arenas worthy of activists' attention.[20]

What virtually all participants acknowledged (thanks in no
small part to DSA's role in helping to organize this event and in
focusing the activities of the Working Group on Economic Insecurity) was
that the centerpiece of a progressive agenda involves addressing the
question of the economy and the disruptions, suffering, powerlessness
and fear created by the mobility and power of corporations-without
glossing over the racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and other
injustices exacerbated by economic uncertainty.

The next step at the policy level is a series of briefings
for Congressional staff and members on specific issues related to
economic justice (global economy, corporate responsibility, and welfare
reform are among the topics to be covered). These briefings are planned
for January and February, and out of the briefing sessions working
groups on the issues will be formed. The working groups will include
Congressional staff and progressive organizations who will help draft
legislation. The coalition of activist groups is working on plans to
bring the issues to the grassroots through a round of town meetings this
spring and through the development of a network of progressive elected
officials. The town meetings will be modeled on DSA's Public Hearings on
Economic Insecurity and the AFL-CIO town meetings of 1996, and will
bring Progressive Caucus members together with local activists.

Progressive Caucus SOTU Address

On Thursday, January 27 2000, from 3:30pm to 5:00pm in 2253 of RHOB, the Congressional Progressive Caucus held its 3rd Annual Congressional Progressive Caucus' State of the Union Address. This event was also sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies' Progressive Challenge coalition whose Fairness Agenda for America is endorsed by 200 public interest groups nationally.
Caucus Chair Rep. Peter DeFazio(D-OR)
stated "The Progressive Caucus Alternative State of the Union will
provide a much needed reality check to politicians who would rather
ignore the priorities of Americans left out of the economic boom --
priorities like access to quality health care and education, repairing
crumbling schools, addressing the growing gap between the rich and poor,
and creating a sustainable global economy that works for everyone, not
just the corporate architects."
Anticipated speakers included: Peter DeFazio (D-OR), House Minority Whip David Bonior (D-MI), Earl Hilliard (D-AL);Dennis Kucinich (D-OH); Cynthia McKinney (D-GA);. Major Owens (D-NY)Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Tammy Baldwin (D-WI);. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY);Barbara Lee (D-CA); Jerrold Nadler (D-NY); and Lynn Woolsey(D-CA). John Cavanagh,
director of the Institute for Policy Studies also made some remarks
regarding public interest groups support of a progressive agenda.[21]

The Congressional Progressive Caucus, Chaired by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), consists of over a quarter of the House Democrats, one Independent and Senator Paul Wellstone.
The Caucus will be releasing position papers on Health Care and Income
Inequality, with reports on the Alternative Federal Budget, Social
Security, Minimum Wage, Education and the Global Economy.

Communist Party on the Progressive Caucus

Although this Caucus is not large enough to control the
Congressional agenda or even to break into the media, the existence of
this group of 57 members of Congress, which includes 20 members of the Congressional Black Caucus and six members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus,
provides an important lever that can be used to advance workers' issues
and move the debate to the left in every Congressional District in the
country.

Communist Party "ally"

In a report "What Can We Learn From the Movement for Health Care Reform?" prepared as part of the discussion leading up to the Communist Party USA's 29th National Convention May 21-23, 2010.Communist Party USA member David Bell wrote on the partial failure of the Party's health care agenda;[24]

Did we forget the fact that many of the same unions, hundreds
of locals, and the rank and file supported single payer? We also turned
away from our allies in Congress, the Progressive Caucus, and John
Conyers. We did not insist that single payer supporters, including
Conyers, be included in the White House summit on health care reform.

CPUSA on Obama, Democrat Caucuses, Int'l Communist Meeting

A report praising Barack Obama, and the changes wrought by him, as well as communist connection to the Democratic Party, was delivered at the 14th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties, held in Beirut, Lebanon, November 22-25, by Erwin Marquit, member of the International Department, CPUSA.[25]

We express our gratitude to the Lebanese Communist Party for
hosting this important meeting under the present difficult conditions.

The Communist Party USA not only welcomes the reelection of
President Barack Obama, but actively engaged in the electoral campaign
for his reelection and for the election of many Democratic Party
congressional candidates. We regarded the 2012 election as the most
important in the United States since 1932, an election held in the midst
of the Great Depression...

Because of this danger, we viewed our participation in
mainstream electoral activity as obligatory, even though both major
parties in the United States are dominated by capital, with no effective
competition from a mass-scale social-democratic party, We are aware
that some on the Left in the United States thought that the correct
approach to the elections was either to boycott them, or as a protest,
to run or support small-scale left-wing candidacies with no possible
chance of winning. We Communists rejected this strategy because too much
was at stake.

Faced with a choice between the victory of either the
Democratic Party or Republican Party, the Communist Party viewed a
victory of the far-right Republican Party as an extreme disaster. In
this situation, we saw the necessity of a policy of center-left
alliances in order not to separate ourselves from the people’s struggles
for dealing with the far right onslaught, The basis of such an alliance
now includes the labor movement, organizations of African Americans and
Latinos, the women’s movement, gay and lesbian civil rights groups, and
organizations of the elderly and retirees. On some issues, these groups
are joined by a few far-sighted elements of capital...

In our electoral policy, we seek to cooperate and strengthen
our relationship with the more progressive elements in Democratic Party,
such as the Progressive Caucus in the U.S. Congress, a group of seventy-six members of the Congress co-chaired by Raúl Grijalva, a Latino from Arizona, and Keith Ellison, an African American Muslim from Minnesota. We also will strengthen our relationship to the Congressional Black Caucus
(formed by African Americans in the Congress), which has been the point
of origin of innovative policies including an end to the U.S. economic
blockade of Cuba, and with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
In its domestic policy, for example, the Progressive Caucus has put
forth a program for using the public sector to deal with unemployment.
It has opposed the use of the so called “war on terror” to incarcerate
U.S. citizens indefinitely without criminal charges. In its foreign
policy, the Progressive Caucus and the Black Caucus are outspoken in
their opposition to U.S. imperialist policies abroad. The Progressive
Caucus, now that Obama has been reelected, will be playing an important
role in contributing to the mobilization of mass activity on critical
issues to bring pressure on the Congress and administration to act on
them...

While the victory of Obama is a welcome aid for us in our
domestic struggles, we still face the challenge of mobilizing mass
pressure on his administration to reverse the imperialist character of
U.S. foreign policy. The CPUSA will pursue this formidable task
vigorously in alliance with domestic progressive forces and with our
comrades in the Communist and Workers’ Parties and their allies
throughout the world.

Earl: Many are not familiar with the Progressive House Caucus. How big is it?

Lynn: We had 83 members before the election. It is
bicameral, with House and Senate members. It's by far the largest caucus
in Congress. We lost four members this election. But we also gained a
couple of new members. We will not have less than 80 members in the next
Congress. The Blue Dog Democrats lost almost two-thirds of their
members.

Earl: What are the major issues that the Caucus will press Congress and the Obama Administration on?

Lynn: It is clear that we represent the heart and soul of
the Democratic Party. So, the first item is jobs. We have to have a
robust jobs bill. One that we should have had when President Obama first
took office and his popularity was at its height. He had a big majority
in the House and Senate. We would have doubled the amount of money
allocated for the jobs bill that came out of the House, which the Senate
cut to shreds. The other priority is combating the notion that the
timetable for ending the Afghanistan War is 2014. The war is killing our
budget, killing our people, and killing our relations with our allies.

Earl: What does it take to make that happen?

Lynn: None of this is going to happen until we get money
out of politics, get a bigger control of the media, and that means
diversifying ownership beyond the three corporations.

Earl: The headline article in the Washington Post, Nov.
11, was "Liberals plan to push Obama not to compromise with GOP." Will
the Progressive Caucus take the lead in pushing the president not to
"compromise" with the GOP?

Lynn: We were the most productive House in recent
legislative history in getting key pieces of legislation passed.
Unfortunately, it was not enough. We were in such a deep economic
hemorrhaging. We stopped that. But to do more we have to be even bolder
in our actions. We're going to push the White House to come forth with
bold steps. It's not too late now. But it will be in two years. So we're
hoping that he recognizes that.

Earl: White House advisor David Axelrod was quoted to the
effect that Obama would compromise on the "big issues." Did that set
off alarm bells with you and the Caucus members?

Lynn: I and Caucus co-chair Raul M. Grijalva sent the
President a letter Friday, Nov. 12, that we totally support rolling back
the Bush tax breaks for the wealthy. And no cuts in other programs such
as food stamps that benefit the poor and needy.

Earl: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs blasted
liberals and progressives as the "professional Left" for continuing to
criticize the president despite what he's tried to accomplish.

Lynn: I totally disagreed with him. I've won office with
70 percent of the vote, and there is a large base of voters that are
progressive. This is America, and they do have the right to express
themselves. And criticism or not of us, we're not going to stop our
criticism on policy issues we disagree with. In fact, in line with the
Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the
House Pacific Asian Caucus, we will represent a good majority of the
Democrats who remain in the House.

Earl: So no compromise on the core issues

Lynn: Any idea that we're going to reach across the aisle
and surrender our Democratic ideals on jobs, health care, education,
and fighting for working people and not the wealthy is not going to
happen. We're not going to compromise our votes to support programs just
to appear that we're compromising. We're not going to start from the
right of center and go further to the right. That's not what the nation
needs.

Earl: There were reports that during the health care debate the White House shunned the Progressive Caucus. How accurate is that?

Lynn: No we were not shunned. I still hear the president
saying, "Lynn what's our agenda on health care and what's to be done to
secure passage." We took groups of representatives to the White House
more than once for meetings. We always had an open-door relationship to
work with the president and the House leadership. We intend to continue
to work with the president. He will have a hard time getting anything
done if he doesn't have us with him. And he knows that.

But we're not going to compromise with the right on some
lukewarm programs that should have been much bolder. The public option
in the health care fight was a good example of that. We still feel it
was given away before the health care debate really began. So we're not
going to roll over. Most of our members won reelection, and in some ways
we'll have an even bigger voice in the next Congress.

Earl: Nancy Pelosi wants to stay in the House Leadership. Do you support her?

Lynn: I'm 100 percent behind her. None of the
accomplishments in this past Congress would have happened without her
leadership. They label her as some wild-eyed liberal, but that's just
name calling. She's an effective leader. And the administration knows
that. I'm confident that she will be our Minority House leader.

Restore the American Dream for the 99 Percent Act

Reps Grijalva and Ellison at the Capitol press conference

"Responding directly to national demand for a massive jobs program",
members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, December 13, 2011,
introduced the Restore the American Dream for the 99 Percent Act into
the House of Representatives.

The bill would create more than 4 million jobs and reduce the
deficit by more than $2 trillion over the next 10 years, making it the
biggest government effort thus far to marshal the resources needed to
address the economic crisis.

While no one expects the bill to pass in the Republican-controlled
House, it is viewed by many as outlining what really must be done if the
economy is to be restarted in a way that benefits the overwhelming
majority of the population.
Progressive Caucus Co-Chairmen Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., presented the legislation at a news conference in the Capitol.

The bill would create several "corps" that will offer
government jobs to the unemployed doing essential work including
repairing school buildings, maintaining public parks, building
neighborhood energy efficiency and conservation projects, and providing
health care and other public services in underserved areas. One of the
corps would be specifically devoted to re-hiring teachers and first
responders laid off by cash-strapped state and local governments .

There are provisions in the bill that require 75 percent of
the goods and services purchased by the federal government to be made in
America, provisions designed to help small businesses get federal
contracts, and allocation of $50 billion alone for highway, public
transportation and electrical grid improvement projects.

The bill provides for tariffs in cases where what the
lawmakers called "currency manipulation by China" results in
"artificially driving down the cost of Chinese imports."

One clause in the bill protects both the long-term unemployed and wounded veterans from hiring discrimination.

The bill includes provisions that would raise $800 billion
through a surcharge on millionaires and billionaires, end tax subsidies
for oil companies, and impose a tiny financial transactions tax on Wall
Street.

There would be other budget savings through ending the war in
Afghanistan and slashing $200 billion from the defense budget by
eliminating unneeded weapons systems and cutting in half the military
forces currently stationed in Europe.

The bill also strengthens health care reform by creating a
public health insurance option that would be available through health
care exchanges. That measure alone, the lawmakers say, would drive down
spending federal health care spending by $90 billion.

The bill would allow Medicare to bargain with pharmaceutical
companies to get bulk discounts, a move blocked by Republicans in the
past. Supporters say it would help save more than $150 billion.

To save Social Security benefits and trust fund, the legislation would
raise the cap on earnings taxed by Social Security above its current
$106,800.
"The Republicans want the people to think about how bad things
are and to focus their anger on the president," said Grijalva "They
don't want people to count the things the Republicans voted down that
would have helped this country."
"This bill," said Ellison, "shows we can put people to work today by building for tomorrow."[27]